Invention relates generally to air treatment appliances such as air purifying devices and, more particularly, to an air treatment appliance with a translucent body for permitting convenient and non-intrusive inspection of the filtering mechanism and other parts within the device.
Air purifying devices are known in the art. The known devices typically include an air inlet for air to be drawn into the device, a fan for drawing in the air, a filtering mechanism to filter out undesirable material from the air drawn in, such as contaminants, dust particles and debris, and an air outlet for expelling the filtered air. The devices typically also contain other associated components, such as electrical switches and electrical or electronic circuitry for controlling and monitoring the operation of the device. Over time, undesirable material filtered out by the filtering mechanism in such devices accumulates in the filtering mechanism, whereby the filtering mechanism gets loaded with undesirable material. Accordingly, the filtering mechanism in these devices must either be cleaned, or sometimes replaced, from time-to-time, in order to remove the accumulated undesirable material. If, however, the filtering mechanism is not cleaned or replaced when necessary, the performance of the device is detrimentally impacted and the quality of the air filtered by the device deteriorates. This can be harmful for a user, particularly for users with health problems who use the device for health reasons. Further, a loaded filtering mechanism puts an excess strain on the fan to draw in air, or the capacity of airflow can get cut down. Therefore, it is important to clean or replace the filtering mechanism in an air purifying device as and when necessary, which requires knowing when the filtering mechanism inside the device needs cleaning or replacement.
Typically, an air purifying device has to be opened in order for one to inspect the filtering mechanism within it. Opening the device, however, first requires the device to at least be switched off, and preferably disconnected from its power source. Further, the opening procedure can be cumbersome and tedious, and restoring the device back to its closed operating position after the inspection can likewise be tedious. Depending upon the difficulty of the task, users tend to procrastinate in performing timely inspections of the filtering mechanism in such devices. This results in delayed cleanings or replacements of the filtering mechanism, which detrimentally impacts the performance of the device and deteriorates the quality of the air filtered by the device.
In order to prevent such problems, some users may tend to clean or replace the filtering mechanism in the devices more frequently than necessary. Others may tend to do so at fixed predetermined time intervals, irrespective of whether the mechanism needs cleaning or replacement or not. Although this helps maintain the performance of the device and the quality of air filtered by it, it results in an unnecessary waste of both time and money.
Known air purifying devices typically also include at least one moving part, which is a fan for drawing in air through the filtering mechanism and expelling it from the device in a predetermined direction. Such moving parts tend to accumulate dust and debris over time due to the high traffic of air that they are exposed to, which may decrease the efficiency of the overall device. Such condition, however, is not readily apparent to a user until the user has had a chance to visually inspect the interior of the device when the device is opened. Typically, however, as discussed above such devices are not opened all that frequently, whereby such condition may continue to exist undetected for some time.
Typically, known air purifying devices include a light indicator or other visual indicator to indicate whether the device is currently in operation. Without having to come in physical contact with the device, a user may thus determine with a quick visual inspection of the indicator whether the device is currently operating. However, providing the light or other visual indicator adds to the cost of manufacturing of the devices, and further the light or other visual indicator consumes power during the entire time of operation of the device.
Other appliances, particularly air treatment appliances such as air conditioners, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and the like, have similar constructions to those of air purifiers.
There is, therefore, a need for an improved air purifying device or other appliance wherein a user may conveniently inspect the condition of the filtering mechanism and the moving parts within the device, and determine the current operating condition of the device without having to open or switch off the device. Accordingly, this invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.
An air purifying device or other air treatment appliance includes a body, an air inlet for permitting air to be drawn into the device, a fan for drawing the air into the device, possibly a filtering mechanism to filter out undesirable material from the air drawn into the device, and an air outlet for permitting the filtered air to be expelled from the device. At least some portions of the body of the device are constructed of a translucent material, thereby facilitating convenient inspection of the filtering mechanism and other parts within the device. The translucent material may be a colorless material, or it may be of an aesthetically appealing color or combination of colors.